updated 04:25 am EST, Mon February 28, 2011

Voice Mail app brings personalized greetings

France Telecom mobile division Orange is set to bring a new app to the iPhone that enhances its built-in voicemail functionality. The new ON VoiceFeed app gives users the option to create personalized messages for individual callers or even groups of callers. In practice, the app can be used to set up a universal greeting for unknown callers, and then tailored messages for loved-ones, friends or work groups for example.

The app debuted on the Android platform last year and Orange had hoped to bring it to the iPhone sooner, but found that the app needed to be tailored to each platform so it fitted in with the way users of each platform use their phones. As a results of US pre-release testing, Orange was forced to begin ON VoiceFeed messages with a tone as callers found the messages so personalized that they actually starting speaking to the recording.

The app will be available for free in the iTunes App Store in the next two weeks and is aimed at introducing US customers to the company. "Telecoms are going to become much, much more global," says Giles Corbett, the head of the Orange Vallee unit. [viaAllthingsD]